[♪♪] [Makda] We're in a
galaxy of glasses. [Makda] Shopping for spectacles. There's choice galore. [Makda] Our secret shopper is
a Marketplace producer and she really does wear glasses. The frames are
all about fashion, but it's the lenses
that are the real focus. [Makda] We're taking a hard look
at a filter that's supposed to block the blue
light from screens. [Makda] Blue light-filtering
lenses are everywhere online, but we want to test how
the country's big chains are pitching the
latest trend in-store, so we're undercover
inside Hakim Optical, LensCrafters, Vogue Optical,
and Hudson's Bay Optical. We're visiting three
stores for each of them. That means a dozen visits. [Makda] The sales pitch
sounds and looks convincing. [Makda] And then the
claims start to sound alarming. [Makda] At one chain, we
even hear the "c" word. [Makda] Yikes. So what does it
cost to save our eyes? [Makda] And it
seems to be popular. [Makda] So should we all buy in? To find out, we're off to
Philadelphia to visit one of North America's
top eye specialists. Along the way, we meet people
spooked by the light from their screens, too. I think using the computer or
the cell phone for a long time can do harm. It can have retina detachment
by using it too much time. I've heard that
it's bad for you, so I got my glasses with the
blue light lens protecting so that when I look at my computer
screen or my cell phone, I'm at work, whatever, that
it doesn't damage my eyes. If you look at screens too much,
your brain and eyes can get damaged. Am I about to be duped? [Makda] So we're off to
America's oldest eye hospital, established almost
200 years ago. Today it's 15 floors
devoted to everything eyeballs. Look way up high. [Makda] That's where
Montreal-born Dr Sunir Garg works. Awesome. Yeah, otherwise, your
retina looks really great. [Makda] He's an eye
doctor and an eye surgeon. Dr Garg is also a spokesperson
for the American Academy Of Ophthalmology. We keep hearing the same thing
about blue-light filter lenses. Is this a new thing? It's a new thing, and
it's all over the internet. I can't even open up, you
know, any website without, you know, "Hey, maybe you want
to buy these blue light "blocking lenses." [Makda] Okay,
then, let's hit play. [Makda] We heard
that several times. Is blue light from
your screens harmful? No. It's not. And I don't know where that's
come from and why it's taken off so much, because
it's not data driven. I can't fault them, because I'm
sure they're getting a little info sheet that
says you know what, here's three talking points
about blue light blocking lenses. [Makda] He understands
why we'd buy into this. I think people
are thinking, Jeez, you're right, after I use my
computer for a bunch of hours, my eyes don't feel very good. I can't see really well,
they're kind of irritated, but what's bothering
them isn't the blue light, it's the fact that when they're
staring at the screen a lot, they're not blinking as often. That causes the eye to dry out
and when your eyes become dry, they become irritated
and scratchy and tired. [Makda] There is a
simple fix for that. What you should do is just take
a break and the American Academy Of Ophthalmology
has this 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes, take a 20
second break and look 20 feet off into the distance, and that
will break that near staring that we tend to do when
we're looking at the screen. [Makda] But back
on hidden camera, we never hear that advice. Yeah. Tearing your eyes out would be
really cool around Halloween, but it's not
something, you know, that we see and I think
people are exaggerating stuff. Well, Jeez, I have these light
rays that are little daggers that are coming into my eyes
and poking holes in my macula, which is sorta what
she's making it sound like. She's saying
"penetrating the eyes". That sounds scary. It does sound scary. And if I'm trying to sell you
something that you don't need, maybe sounding
scary helps to sell. [Makda] Now on to claims of
serious damage to the back of the eyeball, Dr Garg's
passion and specialty. This whole orange area
is called the retina. The centre of the
retina gets a special name. It's called the macula and the
macula is the part of the eye that gives us our good
reading and driving vision. [Makda] In our hidden camera,
the staff in stores also bring up the retina and the macula. [Makda] Unfortunately,
she's just wrong. And there's no evidence at all
that blue light from the screen is gonna cause
macular degeneration. [Makda] Blue light from our
screens degrades our retina? I don't have patients coming in
ever with any signs of damage to their retinas from looking
at their screen all day. Retinal damage,
macular degeneration, that sounds serious. And it IS serious, but the blue
light from your screen is not the cause of that stuff. And people should do things
to protect themselves against developing macular degeneration,
but that's not buying these glasses. That's eating a proper diet,
foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, eating
stuff like broccoli, spinach, kale,
three servings a week. We know that helps. [Makda] But we don't
hear that in stores. We hear about studies. There are no studies
that are showing that. Nothing in people. And so people will quote that. Yes, blue light can
hurt retinal cells, but they're not telling you
that's not been shown in a person or any group of
people using screens, it's mostly in a petri dish or
taking a poor mouse and holding its head in a position and
shining a blue light intensely into their mouse
eyeballs for hours on end. That can also
potentially be harmful, but that's, again, not
how it happens in people. [Makda] The marketing in stores
also sends the same messages about the dangers of
blue light from a screen. And so do the company websites. So everything that
you have seen so far, what stands out? You know, I think people are
exaggerating the problem and are misleading their customers. I think it's mostly benefiting
the companies that are selling these things, truthfully. [Makda] We share our
findings with the retailers. They declined to come on camera,
but they say the science is still evolving and argue that
blue light can be damaging. Some say they'll reinforce their
staff training and add that blue light filter lenses
won't harm consumers. And the makers of those lenses? They say people feel better
using them and they reduce eyestrain. To get a second opinion about
whether blue light from screens is harmful, we head
to Oxford, England, to meet an optical
radiation expert. Professor John O'Hagan
knows all about blue light. Blue light in our normal
environment is not dangerous at all. The main source of blue light
for most people will be from the sky. [Makda] From the sky? Really? So how much blue light
actually comes from our screens? We ask him to
measure that for us. The light level coming from the
phone is so low that we need to turn down the lights in the
room and bring the blinds down, otherwise we're not
going to measure very much. [Makda] Professor O'Hagan
fires up the spectro-radiometer. [Professor O'Hagan] Levels are
very low. Very low output. There is no evidence that the
blue light from your mobile device is harmful. [Makda] Three years ago, Public
Health England asked him to do similar testing. As part of our study, we looked
at a whole range of different phones, tablets, screens. We didn't find anything that
gave us cause for concern. [Makda] He says we get around 30
times more blue light from the sky. O'Hagan's test determined
the screens are harmless. But that's not the
message on hidden camera. Remember this? Cancer? Yeah, no. Those are the two most scary
things you can talk about, cancer and blindness, and you're
telling me these glasses will protect against both? Where do I sign? But that's just not where
the scientific data is. [Makda] Opticians at Hudson's
Bay Optical are the only ones who mention a link to cancer, but
they seem to be getting it from this in-store pamphlet. And the cancer claim shows up
on Vogue Optical's website, too. What did you think of
everything that you saw? These are big companies that
are putting this information out there, letting customers know
that that blue light from your screens is damaging. I think that's a
failing on their part. You know, they should have
the resources and the time and, sort of, the pride in what
they're selling to get good information to
their salespeople. [Makda] Hudson's Bay Optical now
says comments about cancer and macular degeneration are wrong. They say they'll pull those
pamphlets and retrain staff. And the maker of the
lenses stands by its marketing. Finally at a few stores,
staff get this next claim right. Blue light from ANY
source can keep you awake. There's an easy fix for that. In the evening, turn on
your device's night mode. Your screens aren't
going to make you blind. I don't need to spend
money on these things. I should do things that will
help my eyes which is to take a break periodically
when I'm doing things, start quieting down
before night time, eat a good diet,
exercise and not smoke. Those things will help your eyes
way more than spending money on these blue-blocking lenses.
Is there anybody not trying to scam us?
I’ve tried these, they were interesting. But annoying anytime you aren’t starting at a screen, because you see flashes of blue in the glare of the glasses and it’s really distracting.
Blue light does affect sleep cycles. But I have yet to see anything respectable that demonstrates it causing any kind of damage.